Friday, March 09, 2012

Ocracoke Airport

Long ago, in January of 1969, I read an AP wire service report about Ocracoke. I cut and saved the article. Here is the report as it appeared in newspapers across the country:

"Town's Airport Not 'Rundown'. Ocracoke, N.C. (AP) -- An airport with a 3,000-foot paved runway has been built on this isolated Outer Banks island so that visitors arriving by air no longer will have to use a highway as a landing strip."

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the story of the Civil War on the Outer Banks, Josephus Daniels, Jr, Secretary of the Navy during WWI, and his connection to Ocracoke. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news022112.htm.

5 comments:

Seems you may have sparked another future post, Philip--one on aviation on Ocracoke.

Two Thanksgivings ago, we watched an Osprey aircraft practice touch-and-go landings at the airport, and drove over for an up-close view.

Parked adjacent to the airport, we got an unexpected sandblasting/blow drying when the big bird came in low and slow, approaching the tarmac, and its props pivoted from horizontal-to-vertical orientation, essentially enabling the "plane" to transform into a "helicopter" for its gentle touch down, and leaving me with another mental-note life lessons for future reference--next time, not so close.

Back in 2004 I wrote a Newsletter about Ocracoke and aviation. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news050404.htm, although at least one of the photos is not available, and Pelican Airways is no longer operating. Phil Platt died a few years ago.

Thank you for the referral to your 2004 post about the evolution of (manned) flight on Ocracoke.

My wife and I took a sightseeing trip with Phil of Pelicn Airways. I remember him making a comment about flying over "the nude beach." A come-on for the rubes, surely, unless he was referring to Ocracoke's mostly unpeopled shoreline. I also remember a sideways comment about several young military pilots who landed vintage-looking warbirds just before our flight. From that comment--and his attire--I got a sense that Phil quite literally wore his political opinions on his sleeve.

Since his passing, is anyone else offering such flights there, or service to Norfolk or other parts, as he once did?

And what about you? Have you had occasion to fly the friendly skies above your own home?

Anon 7:15 -- Phil was talking about the most isolated sections of our beach, those areas sometimes frequented by "nature lovers." No one else is offering flight service as Phil did. I have flown over Ocracoke several times. For a while I even took flight lessons, though I never soloed. I realized I would never be able to afford a plane or the maintenance.

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Lou Ann spends much of the summer on Ocracoke, and makes frequent visits throughout the year. She enjoys making short videos as she goes "out and about" around the island and elsewhere. She posts her videos on her blog. You can watch them here: